


Sunflowers

by Imagining_in_the_Margins



Category: 68 Kill (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Cute, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Self-Insert, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25289896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagining_in_the_Margins/pseuds/Imagining_in_the_Margins
Summary: Where Reader’s honey supply gets saved by an even sweeter boy named Chip.
Relationships: Chip Taylor/Reader, Chip Taylor/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	Sunflowers

The autumn air carried with it the scent of cinnamon, cloves, and sunflowers. It sounds like it’s meant to be poetic, but really it was just the way the Farmer’s Market always smelled at this time of year. Everyone’s stalls were crammed full of every pumpkin spiced themed item you could think of. Hell, even I had something for the people addicted to the humble pumpkin pie mixture. And sure enough, the spiced honey sold the best of all my products. Typical.

Which is why I was, in my infinite wisdom, attempting to carry a stack of 3 crates of honey from my truck to my stall. It wasn’t like I was weak— I was actually relatively strong for my size. The bigger problem was that I had a complete and total lack of coordination.

I’d made it about halfway to the stall, which was a whopping 50 feet away, when I felt the telltale wobble of the top crate. I knew then that, despite my best efforts, it would only be a matter of seconds until all of the crates crashed onto the ground. So, naturally, the best thing to do was close my eyes and hope, right?

Didn’t matter. That’s exactly what I did. But, to my surprise, I didn’t hear the unmistakable crashing of glass and wood against the asphalt. For a moment I wondered if I’d actually somehow managed to kill myself in the calamity, but then I heard his joke.

“Are you okay?” 

I opened my eyes, slowly at first in preparation for the mess that should have been in front of me. But I didn’t find a mess. No, I found a _very_ attractive man, struggling to readjust the two crates that had almost fallen before he apparently caught them midair.

“Miss?” He spoke again, and the sound luckily managed to rattle my brain back into place.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry!” What was I apologizing for? I didn’t know, but it felt necessary. “I’m fine. Well, better now that I didn’t just smash honey everywhere! I swore I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

He lowered the crates to the ground, looking back at me as I still barely held onto the one in my hand. I, however, was still blubbering like an idiot. I wasn’t sure what exactly the look on his face was, but I think it was something between confusion and intrigue.

I blew out a deep breath, setting my crate on top of the two he’d so kindly stacked before resting my hand on the top. “Thank you so much, sweetheart. I’d be a mess without you… literally.”

“No problem.” He answered with a shrug, almost like his response was purely on instinct. Of course, the longer I looked at him, the more I realized that it probably was. There was a kindness and simplicity to the man; he seemed like he was just wandering through life, trying to find a way to be the happiest he could be.

“Do you… need help?” He asked after a long pause, his eyes stuck to the three heavy crates under my palm.

I joined him in looking at it, and I grimaced as I considered the second incoming humiliation. “You really are a sweet thing.” I mumbled, “I’d love a spare hand, but I’d hate to take it from you.”

The man smiled, tucking his lips into his mouth while he tried not to laugh at my horrible joke. Before he said anything else, he leaned over and picked up the three crates with ease. In my defense, though, he was taller than me, so it was easier for him to see over the wood.

“I can keep my hands and still help you.” He tilted his head to the side to look at me around the honey. His own attempt at a bad joke landed spectacularly well with me, although I didn’t have any doubt that he was capable of making me laugh.

“Pfft! You’re funny. I might want to keep you if you keep that up.”

With a wave of my hand, he followed me in walking the short distance to the stall and lowered the crates onto the ground with more grace than I would have been capable of. He shook out his arms in a manner reminiscent of a puppy that had just gotten out of a pool, and I giggled at the sight.

“So… what’s your name, my mysterious hero?” I asked, leaning against the crates and taking my time inspecting the man before me now that there was nothing blocking my vision. If he noticed my shameless ogling, he said nothing of it.

“Chip.” He answered simply, still smiling as he allowed the colors of the flowers covering the booth to distract his eye.

“Chocolate or butterscotch?”

He furrowed his brows, clicking his tongue before he shoved his hands in his pocket, his body settling into place as he accepted my overt invitation to talk. “What do you mean?”

“What kind of Chip?” I clarified, crossing my arms over my chest. Although everyone swears it’s a defensive maneuver, I really just wanted to draw his attention to the area (I meant it when I said I was shameless). It worked, his eyes trailing up and down my body as he licked his lips.

Once he arrived back to my face, he realized I was still waiting for his response. Clearing his throat, he scratched the back of his head as he puffed out his cheeks in way too much thought for such a simple question. But when he did answer, it was definitely worth the wait.

“Honestly, I’m probably more of a potato.”

Bursting into laughter, I doubled forward at the remarkably honest answer. Not that I was entirely surprised; like I’d mentioned when I first saw him, the man named Chip seemed nothing if not genuine.

“My favorite.” I finally managed, stepping past him to grab something from a crate in the back.

“Mine too.”

I could feel his eyes burning into me when I bent over to rummage through the boxes. This time it wasn’t actually on purpose, but I appreciated the attention, anyway. Most of the people who came to the market were middle aged women or the kind of guys who spent thirty minutes telling me that the concept of buying flowers for women was based on an idealized fantasy that should be abolished.

Chip didn’t seem to mind the flowers, though. If anything, he seemed to like them. In fact, when I turned back around, he quickly averted his eyes to the closest bundle beside him in an attempt to look like he hadn’t been checking me out.

“Well, I don’t have any potato chips but…” I chuckled, tossing him a small bag that he almost didn’t catch. “I do have some of these to pay you back.”

After getting over the initial shock of having something thrown at him, he inspected the little pouch of sunflower seeds with delight. “Oh, thanks!” He squeaked, his voice jumping an octave in seconds, “I wasn’t expecting anything! I just… wanted to help.” He almost seemed embarrassed to admit it.

“I don’t like owing people stuff, you know?” I shrugged.

“ ** _Yes_**. Yes, I do.” He was adamant in that response, raising his eyebrows as his eyes widened to comical proportions. But once he managed to open the packet of seeds, he returned to his normal adorable face, happily munching away and spitting the spent shells into the mulch circle of the tree grate beside us.

After a second of staring rather rudely at him, I started to unpack the rest of my booth, arranging the flowers in various areas as he watched me from the corner. It probably should have been unnerving, but it wasn’t. His presence was… warm and appreciated.

“So you uh… you really like flowers, huh?” He very articulately stated, tilting his head nearly ninety degrees at me as I continued to arrange the flowers.

“You could say that.” I agreed, glancing back over at him every few seconds to see that he was, in fact, still watching me carefully.

I’d figured that as soon as I’d given him the seeds he would have left, but it only seemed to make him want to stay longer. He leaned against the trunk of the tree, a sure sign that he wasn’t ready to leave. Without turning to look at him, I asked the only question that was on my mind, albeit predictable and a little cheesy.

“Do you have a favorite flower, Chip?”

“I don’t think so.” He replied with very little thought. The answer was as predictable as my question.

“You don’t strike me as the type of guy to think flowers are just for girls.” I mumbled, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice with the sound of rustling jars as I moved a few jars of honey onto the display.

“I don’t. Just never had any flowers, so I don’t have a favorite.”

As I carefully decorated the spread, I smiled at his words in a way that he wouldn’t be able to see. It was a little silly, considering how bold I’d been with him earlier, but the longer I talked to him, the more I wanted him to actually like me. Not just in a shameless flirting way, but in a hey-maybe-we-should-get-to-know-each-other kind of way.

“Good. You’re too cute to be tarnished that easily.” I sighed, grabbing a tiny piece of baby’s breath before I turned around. Without giving him a chance to react, I stuck the stem behind his ear. “And if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think anyone’s ever bought me flowers, either.”

He twitched a bit at the sensation and sudden movement, but then flashed a smile that took up nearly all of his face. “You run a shop full of them. I figured you’d be sick of them.” He mumbled, straining his eyes to try and spot the little white buds from the corner of his eyes.

“There’s just something about… learning how other people see you, you know?” I huffed, taking a seat on my stool so that I could be a similar height to him. I gestured to the flowers around me before I spoke. “Like, what kind of girl do you think I am?”

I hadn’t actually intended for it to be a question aimed at him, but he clearly took it as such. He scanned the colors surrounding us, a clear expression of thought on his face. I might have noticed more emotions if I wasn’t so distracted by the way his tongue flipped the seeds in his mouth.

“I don’t know anything about flowers.” He concluded with a shrug, turning back to me and hopefully missing the hearts that had formed in my eyes. “You seem pretty nice, though.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

Once again, the conversation died out. It was the perfect opportunity for Chip to make his escape from the sticky confines of my booth, but he didn’t. I was beginning to learn that was another trait of his: the genuine and persistent potato Chip.

“Do you have a favorite flower?” He seemed to know it was a stupid question as he asked it, which only made it more endearing.

“Sure do.” I responded, dragging out the interaction as much as I could. The romantic in me wanted him to guess, although I realized he likely didn’t know enough about flowers to name more than a few. But he _definitely_ knew about my favorite.

“What is it?” He asked through a mouthful of seeds he carefully sectioned off in his mouth.

I had to laugh when I turned to see his cheeks filled like a chipmunk who’d just found a nut. “You’re eating it.”

“Sunflowers?” He slurred, his voice muffled as he quickly cleared the way for his tongue to enunciate again.

“That’s the one.”

Looking down at the bag in his hands, I could see the calculations rolling through his head before he’d even said what he was thinking. “Aren’t they like… giant?”

I scoffed at the question, wondering how on earth he managed to know about mammoth flowers but not the dwarf variety. Standing back up, I opened the crate I’d honestly forgotten about, revealing a bundle of the very same flowers.

“Some of them.” I explained, spreading the stems out in my fingers to show him.

“They still look pretty big to me.” He playfully replied. But when I didn’t dignify it with a response, he asked the question I was hoping he would ask.

“Why are they your favorite?”

“Hmm. Well, they’re a very romantic flower. The Greeks believed that they were created because a water nymph was so in love with Apollo, the Sun God, that she would watch him all day as he moved across the sky. And as the time passed, her adoration and loyalty were unwavering. Then, one day, she turned into a flower.”

I knew I was ranting a little bit, and really, I should be embarrassed to be rambling to a cute boy who probably didn’t realize what he’d signed up for. But he seemed so… excited to hear me talk about it. His body even leaned towards me, much like a child during story time. So, I kept going.

“And even now, she continues to watch the man she loved. At least, that was their explanation for why sunflowers follow the sun. Just a young girl in love with a beautiful man.”

When I turned to look at Chip’s reaction, he wore the most horrified face I’d ever seen. His mouth dropped open to reveal a shell sat in the middle of his tongue, he didn’t even bother spitting it out before he grumbled, “That sounds _awful_.”

“Yeah, I guess it kind of is.” I said, scratching the back of my ear as I scrambled to justify my undeniably morbid, romantic ways. It was easier than I thought it would be, considering I had such a wonderful example of positivity and the sun in my sights.

“Sunflowers also represent happiness and endurance through hardship. It’s pretty cool, how hard they fight to survive. Even if you plant them in ruins, they’ll grow. In fact, they soak up radiation!”

Chip started to choke as I finished that sentence. I bolted over to him to try and help, but he waved me off with a shocked look on his face. He gestured to the bag in his hands, holding his finger up to me with concern.

“Wait…” The cogs slowly turned in his head, his voice low and cautious as he asked, “So are these dangerous? Am I eating radiation?”

I thought he was joking. I honestly thought it was a joke, but the harder I laughed, the more he looked around like he would drop dead any second and needed a witness to my slaughter.

“What, do you think I’m trying to poison you, Chip?” I managed to say through the laughter, wiping the tears that had started to form under my eyes. I’d blame it on allergies, but the truth was that I was just a girl, staring at the sun in the form of a man.

And that man was wearing a giant pout.

“No, they aren’t radioactive!” I assured him, digging my hand into the pouch still in his hand to grab a few of the seeds and pop them into my mouth. “See?” I asked as I crunched the shells, leaning past him to spit the shells into the grate.

He seemed charmed by the nonchalance I exhibited in response to his very real fear that I was trying to murder him, which was a distressing but somehow still cute reaction. Once he knew his life wasn’t in danger, Chip laughed with me at his own humiliation. 

“Good… ‘Cause honestly I only have a few brain cells left and I’d like to keep them.”

That led to me pouting, too, a little hurt by how easily he insulted himself. Stuck between teasing him with a jab about how that was my job and actually saying something nice, I opted for the latter.

“You’re too cute to be real.” Truthfully, I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but once it had left my mouth, I knew there was no taking it back.

“Thanks… I think?” He muttered.

For the first time in the conversation, I didn’t let the silence happen. My next question also came without thinking, and a little louder than it should have been. “S-So, do you have a girlfriend, Chip?”

“No.” He shook his head as he said the word, his mouth twisted to the side as he chewed on his lower lip. 

“Good. You better not, with all the flirting you’ve let me do.” The cheeky, confident side of me had returned with the reassurance, although I don’t think Chip realized that’s what was happening. He mostly just seemed confused, which was pretty on brand for him.

“Flirting?”

“You weren’t kidding about those brain cells, huh?” I shot back, but immediately regretted it. I shouldn’t be insulting the poor guy, but his puppy dog eyes were just so darned cute. “Sorry! That was mean. It was just an easy joke.”

He accepted my apology, albeit without removing his pout and refusing to look at me. “What about you?” He followed, tucking the last of the sunflower seeds in his pocket. I wondered if that meant he was leaving soon.

“My brain cells?”

“No!” He laughed, rocking back and forth on his feet. “Do you… do you have a boyfriend?”

“Nope. It’s just me.”

I waited, hoping that he would have something else to say. But pretty soon I got anxious that his silence meant he was also waiting for me to say something, so then I just said the stupidest thing that came to my mind. “Until they let me marry a sunflower, anyway.”

“I think they’d be pretty boring to talk to.” He replied, sounding almost jealous of the golden flowers that paled in comparison to him.

“Talking to plants can actually be pretty soothing. And it’s good for the flowers.” I corrected.

Chip looked at me like he’d heard it before, a little amused at my fascination with the flora and filled with a desire to get me back for all my teasing. “Where I come from talking to yourself just makes you a crazy person.” He joked, taking a step closer to me so that I had to look up at him when he spoke.

“Do I seem like a crazy person to you?” I answered, crossing my arms again as I stood my ground. 

“No?”

Ignoring the fact that it was phrased like a question, and the fact that a few minutes ago, he’d thought I was trying to murder him, I nodded. “Then I think we’re all good.”

It took me a minute, but eventually the close contact became overwhelming, and I nearly fell over in my attempt to take a step back. Before I could collapse over the crates behind me, Chip caught me the same way he’d caught the honey before. It was hard for me to realized it had only been a few minutes with him.

And now it was ending.

“Well… guess I should let you get back to people who actually know what they’re doing here.” He nervously chuckled, letting go of me and playing with the hem of his shirt, instead. There was something so childlike in his mannerisms that made me want to squeeze the life out of him. 

But at the same time, I saw something else in him. A desire to be noticed and loved the same way he did for other people. Part of me was a little intimidated by it; unsure that I could ever give him that kind of attention.

“Thanks for keeping me company.” I conceded to my fears, stepping aside to return to my seat behind the display.

Chip took his time stepping around the stall, looking down at the different stuff I’d laid out for the other patrons. His hand hovered over the sunflowers, but before he picked it up, he looked up at me.

“Actually, before I go, could I buy one of these from you?”

“S-Sure!” I squeaked, bending over to grab my cash box from the shelf beneath me. I wasn’t really paying attention to his movements, although I saw him rifling through the different blooms to pick his favorite. I had finally gotten the box open and taken his money when I tried to maintain my proud facade with yet another jest. “I swindled you, huh?”

“Not exactly it’s just…” He trailed off before clearing his throat. He stepped back over to my side of the stall, holding out the flower with a hesitant hand.

I didn’t take it, just staring at the flower in his hand with an open mouth and stars in my eyes. He held it out further, urging me to take it with an unsure smile as he bit down on his lip. “Someone else really should’ve done this by now. But they didn’t so… Take it.”

My hands were shaking as I took the flower from him, and I wondered if the heat forming in my face was because of the blood or because he really was the Sun God that I was destined to stare at until I bloomed.

He waited for a few more seconds for a different reaction, but he unfortunately didn’t get one. In a way, he seemed okay with that.

“I heard they’re your favorite.” He cheekily whispered before he gave a small wave. “Bye. And thanks for the not-radioactive snack.”

In that moment, I understood why sunflowers follow the sun. Because watching Chip walk away made the colorful surroundings feel so dull and lifeless. I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted him to stay; I wanted to figure out all the different ways he could smile and how to summon them. I wanted to drown in his warm syrup colored eyes.

So, summoning all of the courage and stupidity I could, I bolted after him.

“Chip, wait!”

Hearing me a second too late, Chip turned around just in time for me to barrel straight into him. He was prepared for it, though, and I couldn’t blame him for expecting me to make a fool of myself. His hands grabbed my arms to steady me, and I took the opportunity to bounce up on my toes, my lips connecting with his cheek for just a few seconds.

“Thank you.” I said under my breath, nervously glancing up at him to see his response. In typical Chip fashion, he seemed confused as to why I was thanking him at all. I held up the sunflower that I hadn’t even realized was still in my hand, speaking matter-of-factly as I explained, “Thank you for the flower.”

With his hand rising to his cheek, Chip tried to cover the small blush forming over his face. Luckily for me, though, he couldn’t. His dimples forming as his smile grew, he nodded back at me.

“You’re welcome.”


End file.
